High Net Worth: As Andy Murray celebrates Wimbledon win, who are the top ten richest tennis players in the world?

Rich list: This is Money reveals the top ten richest tennis players as Wimbledon reaches its climax

Over the past fortnight, Britain has been gripped in its yearly Wimbledon frenzy – dramatic defeats, unexpected exits and gripping games have kept the tennis on the tips of our tongues, while Andy Murray triumphed to make it a tournament to remember.

Despite some of the sport’s biggest names crashing out of the competition in the early stages, the chances are it was egos rather than bank balances that suffered the greatest dents as a result.

This year, Wimbledon announced a 40 per cent increase in prize money. The overall amount to be shared out has gone up by £6.5million to reach an astounding total of £22,560,000 – a far cry from the £26,150 figure in 1968 when prize money was first introduced.

Andy Murray and Marion Bartoli will each receive a tidy sum of £1.6million this year, up 39 per cent from 2012 - the largest single increase in prize money from one year to the next in professional tennis history.

For most of the top tennis stars,
earnings from sponsorship deals far exceed prize money winnings.
Exhibitions, appearances and endorsements all contribute to the fortunes
of the biggest names.

Tennis is a particularly lucrative
sport with global appeal and there’s a reason the top tennis stars tend
to appear dripping in jewellery or sporting chunky watches. As they
grunt their way across the grass there’s no ignoring the players’
sponsors – think of Djokovic’s head-to-toe Uniqlo attire or Berdych’s
Wimbledon whites emblazoned with the H&M logo.

Prize money may not be the largest
income sources for tennis’ top stars, but success in the Grand Slams is
crucial for raising a player’s profile. As the athletes climb the
rankings, they become increasingly attractive to brands, and that’s when
they’ll start earning the big bucks.

There’s mega money in tennis and securing a top player to endorse a brand can be lucrative for all involved.

The world’s second highest-paid athlete of the past 12 months - beaten only by Tiger Woods - is the champion of the tennis rich list. Federer is the record-holder for most Grand Slam wins (an impressive 17) and for length of time in top position (a whopping 302 weeks), but he is also in a league of his own when it comes to endorsement, both in the quantity and the calibre of sponsors.

Federer appears to be a particularly solid investment, as, unlike much of his competition, he’s never been out of action from injury for a long period of time. Many of his endorsement deals have lasted ten years, and his sponsors collectively pay him more than $40million annually. The five-year deal Federer signed with Moët & Chandon in 2012 apparently earns him $6million per year alone.

The golden girl of tennis has been the highest-paid female athlete in the world for eight years straight, and she re-affirmed her status by winning the French Open last year. With her supermodel good looks, Sharapova has unsurprisingly been particularly attractive to sponsors.

Nike is her biggest endorsement, and in 2010 Sharapova re-signed with the global brand in an eight-year deal that could earn her over $70million. After deciding most tennis ensembles didn’t suit her and were too widely worn, Sharapova designed her own range for Nike in 2010. Sharapova also has her own collection for Nike’s subsidiary fashion label, Cole Haan, and her ballet flat is Cole Haan’s best-selling female shoe.

The younger Williams sister is currently No.1 in the world for the sixth time in her career, and at 31 is the oldest woman ever to hold the top spot. Serena has earned the most career prize money of any female athlete in history and also has a particularly wide range of outside business ventures, despite having cut back her endorsement deals over recent years.

Serena launched her own line of handbags and jewellery in 2009, but most of her endorsements have been thanks to the joint Williams brand. Alongside her sister, Venus, Serena has co-written a book, ‘Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning’, published in 2005, and starred in an ad for the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature on Apple iPhones earlier this year. What’s more, the sisters also own a share of the Miami Dolphins, the American football team they’ve supported since a young age.

She may be slightly behind her little sister in the wealth stakes, but Venus still has a sizeable fortune of her own, both from prize money and endorsements. Venus was one of the main campaigners for equal prize money for men and women at Wimbledon, and eventually, with the backing of the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Venus got the result she’d been hoping for.

It was convenient, as she won Wimbledon that year, and so was the first to benefit from her campaign. She has won 21 Grand Slam titles and has been ranked No.1 in the world three times. Not content with making her mark on the tennis court, Venus has followed her sister and Sharapova into the fashion world. Venus designs her own clothing line, Eleven, has her own interior design company, V Starr Interiors, and has also written various books, the latest of which was ‘Come To Win’ in 2010.

5. Rafael Nadal

The ‘King of Clay’ has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles as well as Gold in the 2008 Olympics. Unfortunately for Rafa (but fortunately for Andy Murray), a knee injury kept him out of London 2012 and off the courts for seven months. This led to a significant drop down the rankings and a drop in prize money to match. However, Nadal still has plenty of cash to flash thanks to his endorsements.

Up-market watch company Richard Mille have released two Nadal signature timepieces, the latest of which costs $690,000. Nadal became the face of Lanvin's L'Homme Sport cologne in April 2009, and, taking the reins from Christiano Ronaldo, he became the face of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans in 2011.

The value of ‘Brand Murray’ soared after his US Open win last year. As a member of the elite Grand Slam winners club, and particularly after the stellar summer 2012 of British sport, Murray suddenly became much more marketable. After becoming Wimbledon champion 2013 – the first Briton since Fred Perry in 1936 – his marketing potential is set to go through the roof.

One of Murray’s largest sponsors is Adidas, who signed him up to a five year deal worth $4-5million per year in 2009 after dropping Djokovic. Murray earns seven-figure sponsorship from his endorsement of Swiss watch company, Rado, and he famously panicked upon winning the US Open earlier this year, having realised he wasn’t wearing his $2,000 Rado watch.

7. Novak Djokovic

Despite his position as world No.1, Djokovic has earned less in endorsement than Nadal and Federer. However, Djokovic has won five Grand Slams and earned $30million in prize money since 2011 alone, the same year he signed endorsement deals with Mercedes-Benz and Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet.

Djokovic left his clothing sponsor Sergio Tacchini in 2012, and the world’s number one player was announced as global ambassador for Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, signing a five year contract. He added a shoe deal with Adidas in 2013, despite being replaced by Andy Murray as the face of Adidas clothing. Djokovic also endorses German nutritional supplement brand FitLine and Serbian telecommunications company Telekom Srbija.

Asia’s first and only Grand Slam singles champion, Na is seen as a strong role model across Asia and increasingly the rest of the world. In 2011, she reached the finals in two Grand Slams and won the French Open, which led to seven three-year multimillion-dollar endorsement deals.

Na has been backed by Nike for years, but as her profile has risen, so has demand for Na’s endorsement amongst the big global brands as well as multiple Chinese companies. Earlier this year, Na graced the cover of Time magazine, which placed her as one of only four athletes on its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

9. Caroline Wozniacki

At just 22, the former world No.1 was the first Scandinavian woman to hold the top spot, despite being yet to win a Grand Slam. Often in the press thanks to her high-profile relationship with golfer Rory McIlroy, Wozniacki was named ninth most marketable athlete in the world in 2011.

Despite her young age, she has already built up an impressive array of sponsorship deals - Wozniacki became the face of Stella McCartney’s tennis line for Adidas in 2009, signed a three-year contract to endorse Turkish Airlines’ business class service a year later, and released her own line of underwear last September.

10. Ana Ivanovic

The second Serb in the tennis wealth top ten, Ivanovic is a former world No.1. She reached her career highlight back in 2008 with a win at the French Open, but her tennis star has been dwindling since. Despite this, Ivanovic earned a spot on Time’s ‘30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future’ list just three years later.

Although she may not have spread her brand as widely as many of the other elites, Ivanovic has her fair share of outside earning ventures. She has appeared in a Serbian rapper’s music video and capitalised on her good looks with spreads in numerous magazines including FHM, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Grazia.

AND LAURA ROBSON HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE...

The UK female No.1 became the Wimbledon
Junior Girls’ Champion at the tender age of 14, and at just 19 now,
Robson has the hopes and expectations of the nation on her shoulders for
the years to come.

Understandably, Robson’s parents were keen to keep
her out of the commercial limelight as a teenager, but it’s likely that
the rising star is now only going to become more and more attractive to
sponsors, particularly after her Silver medal in the mixed doubles with
Murray at last year’s Olympics.

Her good looks, skill on-court, and
bubbly personality off-court combine to make Robson very appealing
commercially.

In February this year, she was announced as the new face
of Virgin Active, joining Usain Bolt and Mo Farah on Richard Branson’s
impressive list of sporting brand ambassadors, and she also has a
sponsorship deal with Adidas.

It’s safe to say Britain isn’t overflowing
with tennis stars at the moment, so there’s definitely a gap in the
market for Robson’s star to rise.

Does Robson have the potential to
become the next Sharapova and climb up the rich list as a result? Only
time will tell…